# Stop Ruining Your Vertical Videos & Light is the Story  🎬 | DevReel Weekly #5

**January is gone!** Time is flying, and so I am to San Francisco 🇺🇸 to produce videos for the company I work for (Appsmith) 🎬 and I'm bring all my equipment!

My eyes are tired. I watch hundreds of videos weekly for inspiration. **But this one stopped my scrolling.**

### 📺 Video of the Week

Most cinematic tutorials **lie.**  
Buy this camera -> Get that lens: Wrong focus.  
**Light is the story.** Not your gear. Not your transitions. **Just. Light.**

This video proves it. I truly enjoyed this video and I want you to learn a thing or two about light.

%[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEWu-PhfBHQ] 

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### 🎯 Tip of the Week: You're Doing Vertical Video Wrong, Fix it

**Stop using AI to convert horizontal to vertical.** It kills me all these vertical videos with no composition, no story.

It's lazy. It looks terrible. **Your developers deserve better.**

Here's why:

* Safe zones matter
    
* Platform UI covers your content
    
* Composition gets murdered
    

If you’re planning to repurpose your videos across multiple platforms, make sure your **on-screen text and graphics remain visible**. Don’t let aspect ratios, in-platform icons, or descriptions cut off important elements.

Here's my resource to you: Download this image, Drop it in your editor. Set opacity to 50%. **Never lose content to platform UI again.**

![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1738370733033/1b926474-9867-49f6-af53-f21e672927b3.png align="center")

Personal branding videos and talking to the camera are constantly on the rise. Most creators, when talking on camera, face forward and center. Example below:

![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1738370761208/e69dff71-e0ff-440d-bbba-7ebbaf15451c.png align="center")

But to make them more interesting, **you should get inspired by master artists like Leonardo da Vinci**, and turn your bodies slightly while keeping our eyes centered, like:

![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1738370769919/01d87796-c27e-4a55-b189-9a9987bb4460.jpeg align="center")

It gives **great depth due to your shoulder position** and, depending on your lighting setup, can **create some very nice shadows**, making your image **more visually unique**.

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### 🛠️ Resource of the Week: Hollyland Lark M2

My favorite wireless microphones on budget and with impressive quality and low-compression.

* Tiny (like, really tiny) so it disappears in videos
    
* 30-hour battery life (tested it, it's real)
    
* Auto-sync!
    
* 24-bit audio
    
* Built-in noise cancelling.
    

![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1738370784606/2ca43c7f-7c49-4442-b4ed-5c6b13052680.jpeg align="center")

Best part? Set it. Forget it. Focus on your content. This isn't sponsored. I just really love this thing.

👉 [BUY THE MIC HERE!](https://amzn.to/4gmc74z)

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**And that's a wrap!** See you in next week!

**Have a creative week, and keep producing!**